Typical of the prior art is the printing apparatus described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 313,886, now U.S. Pat. 3,831,728, entitled "Ink Jet Printing Apparatus With Overrun Of Printhead To Insure Better Visibility And Counter Control Of Printing Locations," filed Dec. 11, 1972, and having J. W. Woods and K. Yosmali as inventors. In the Woods et al Pat. No. 3,831,728, which is specifically incorporated by reference herein, an ink jet printer is described that has provision for both line printing and character-by-character, that is, incremental printing.